1. Johnny Got His Machine Gun and
the Great Beyond
1916-1917
Otto Dix, Trench
2. 1916: “The enthusiasm of 1914 became the
disillusionment of 1916.” (Mosse, p. 68)
• January 24 Britain implements conscription
(Military Service Act, MSA)
• February 21 Battle of Verdun begins (through
Dec. 18)
• April 24-29 Easter Uprising in Ireland
• May 31-June 1 Naval Battle of Jutland
• July 1-Nov. 19 Battle of Somme
• November 21 Death of Emperor Franz Josef of
Austria-Hungary and succession of Archduke Karl
3. The Western Front
Trenches and No-Man’s Land:
A Wasteland
Verdun (Feb. 1916)
in six weeks 90,000 French
dead; by May, 200,000 dead.
Total French and German
casualties around one million
with 700,000 dead.
Somme: 1 July 1916:
60,000 casualties in first day
(in first minutes British
lost 21,000 men)
One million casualties total.
4. Machine Guns: A Game Changer
“In the Russo-Japanese War an English observer,
the future General Sir Ian Hamilton, reported
that the only thing the cavalry could do in the
face of entrenched machine guns was to cook
rice for the infantry.” The War Office responded
that they wondered if “the months in the Orient
had affected his mind.” (Ellis, p. 128)
5. July 1, 1916
• Fussell: July 1, 1916 the end of all innocence. “That
moment, one of the most interesting in the whole
long history of human disillusion, can stand as the
type of all the ironic actions of the war.” Beautiful
weather (sunny, clear blue skies); general feeling that
this would be the last battle of the war. Haig
believed “Divine” assistance guiding efforts.
Field Marshal Douglas Haig
6. Somme Miscalculations
• Haig chose strongest section of the German line to launch offensive,
Germans aware of preparations. German defense based on MG. Ellis
notes that the “final absurdity [was that] every man was required to carry
with him equipment which altogether weighed a little under 70 lbs and
reduced his maximum speed to almost walking pace.” (MG, p. 133) Tough
to get out of a trench and move quickly!
• German Official History for 1 July 1916, the Brits advance in “solid lines
without gaps in faultless order, led by . . . officers carrying battle flags and
sticks. Wave after wave were shot by well-aimed fire . . . A wall of dead
British was piled up on the front.” (Ellis, p. 137)
• Second half of 1916 erosion of support of the war. British film, The Battle
of the Somme (1916) (around 19 million people saw it in 1st 6 weeks).
Even so, sense of duty remains into 1918, remained crusade.
• Logic of attrition: To kill as many as cheaply as possible (hence WWII gas
chamber and nuclear bomb).
7. By 1916-17
• Shrinking army reserves, shortages of
munitions, enfeebled allies, support for war
on home front flagging
• Attempts at breakthrough (Somme,
submarines) not working
• Women as workers, consumers, war-widows,
mothers, and heads of “war-families” facing
difficult time (maybe war not such a boon?)
8. Why can’t the Germans win the war with
such fire power?
German machine gun unit in the west, armed
with the captured Russian machine guns.
11. Krupp's Big Bertha, a German 42cm howitzer:
Crush the Belgian fortresses in 1914
12. Supergun
Introduced in 1918, German "supergun" could
hurl a 100-kilo projectile 80 miles. Germans
used it to shell Paris from their side of the
front, which was more than 60 miles away.
Poor accuracy meant Germans hitting random
targets in Paris, alarming Parisians but not
doing any real damage to the war effort.
High-caliber, medium-range artillery pieces
more effective.
By 1918, German artillery officer Georg
Bruchmüller perfected art of highly focused,
precisely timed artillery barrages to devastate
enemy positions in preparation for a ground
offensive by German troops.
https://www.vox.com/a/world-war-i-maps
13. Paris Gun
German long-range siege gun.
Range of up to 80 miles but little accuracy.
Overall length of 112 feet and weighed 138
tons.
14. In 1918 Paris Gun able to shell Paris
from 75 miles away.
16. War Comes to the Home fronts?
Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street), Dublin,
after the Easter Rebellion, 1916
17. The Easter Rising/Rebellion
• Easter Week, 1916: Irish republican armed
insurrection to end British rule; establish
independent Irish Republic.
• Quickly suppressed
• 3,430 men and 79
women arrested. 90 people
sentenced to death.
Fifteen executed. General Post Office, Dublin.
Centre of the Easter Rising
18. 1917: “Strains”
• January Resumption of unrestricted submarine
warfare by Germany
• Jan.-Feb. “Turnip Winter” in Germany; food riots break
out
• February 2 Britain introduces bread rationing
• Feb 23/March 16 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the throne
• March 21-July 18 Germany launches spring offensive
• April 6 USA enters war against Germany
• April 29 First mutiny by French army unit
• July 31-Nov. 10 Third Battle of Ypres (Battle of Passchendaele)
• Oct. 24-Nov. 10 Battle of Caporetto
• Oct 25/Nov 7 Bolshevik overthrow of Provisional
Government
21. Russia’s February Revolution 1917
• Tsarism overthrown in spontaneous, uncoordinated
street actions
• Radicalization: Ready for change
• “Levelling of society”: class anger and social equality
and workers’ control. Polarization.
• What Russians want: No Autocracy; Peace (no war);
Social Justice; Dignity; a better life (working conditions,
pay, hours)
• Role of war in creating conditions for revolution?
• Was WWI responsible for Revolution of 1917/end of
Romanovs: Big historiographical question
22. The Russian Steamroller? Russian troops
hurried into the fighting line. Unprepared and
poorly led.
23. Impact of World War I on Russian Society
• War an agent of modernization
• Society mobilized and creation of new identities:
women taking “men’s jobs; “feminization of
agriculture”
Peasants and workers as soldiers: By March 1917
over 15 million Russian men mobilized, 4-10 million
peasants in uniform (but not with weapons).
36% of male population of working age called up to
front. 15% of the male population.
24. The Cost of War
Millions of causalities (dead, wounded, POWs)
7.3-8.5 million
Refugees fleeing the front (6 million)
Acute economic crisis: Breakdown of
transportation system, no fuel, no food
Acute political crisis: Government unable to
govern (Nicholas II using Rasputin’s comb)
25. From War to Revolution
Russian soldiers in costume for a performance
during a lull in World War I fighting (1916).
26. 1916: War turns to Revolution
• Pavel Miliukov on Nicholas II: Is this stupidity or is
this treason? (Nov. 1916 State Duma speech)
• By 1916, everyone tired of war and just plain tired.
Government isolated
• Strikes pick up
• Rasputin murdered by elites
(Dec. 1916)
Rasputin and the Imperial couple.
Anonymous caricature in 1916
28. February Revolution of 1917
• War created militarized and radicalized society
• Lockout at Petrograd Putilov metal works
• International Women’s Day (Feb 23/March 8)
• Massive demonstrations (300,000 in Petrograd)
February Revolution of 1917:
Putilov workers protesting in
the streets
30. Romanov Reign Over
• Five Days from Feb. 23-27 (March 8-12)
• Spontaneous, uncoordinated mass movement.
• No confidence in government
Emperor Nicholas II
on board the Imperial Train
31. Romanov rule evolving into a
liberals constitutional monarchy
ruled by law Or even a kinder,
more compassionate autocracy
But interrupted by war?
Some historians argue war led to
collapse of Romanov rule.
Evidence suggests not. Not a
question of if but when.
Clash of autocracy and
modernization?
Easy to romanticize Romanovs.
One of the last photos of Nicholas II
Under house arrest, March 1917
32. Now What?
• Duma? (Lacks legitimacy)
• March 12 revamped to
Temporary Executive Committee
(TEC)
• Soviets resurrected
• “dual power”
• March 15 TEC renamed
Provisional Government
headed by Prince Lvov
(PG dominated by Kadets
and Octobrists)
33. “Dual Power” in Action
• March 14: Order No. 1 Who will gain control
of the Petrograd Garrison? Epitomized class
struggle. Who gains hearts and minds of
soldiers and sailors wins out.
• “Honeymoon period”: Common Aims of PG
and Soviet include Constituent Assembly;
General Peace or only defensive war; civil
liberties; Polish independence; and Amnesty
of political prisoners
